Saunas should not be used anywhere near alcohol, plain and simple. Regardless of whether you’ve had only one drink or are recovering from drunk adventures the night prior, saunas and alcohol do not mix. Here’s why.

The exact mechanisms that explain the interaction of sauna and alcohol are not well known. Much of the discussion surrounding the physiological and medical consequences of a sauna interacting with alcohol relies on presumption and what’s known about how a sauna works. For example, it is assumed ingesting a large amount of alcohol while sauna bathing may affect the body’s ability to maintain healthy blood pressure. Subsequently, we know there’s a rise in concomitant faintings and accidents. Alcohol intoxication can also affect a person’s cardiac rhythms and when combined with a sauna, it’s believed the risk of arrhythmia increases due to enhance adrenergic activity.

There are alcohol-related accidents which occur in saunas every year by people who attempt sitting in a sauna while under the influence. As a sauna relaxes your body, it’s not uncommon for someone who is off-balance to occur a sprain or fall. Subsequently, there have been burns on drunk sauna users from some traditional saunas or steam rooms reported. There are also more serious injuries which can occur, such as head contusions and heat stroke from passing out in a sauna. As a sauna relaxes and calms a person down, if you fall asleep or pass out from dehydration related to alcohol, you could be in very big trouble if there isn’t someone to take you out.

The World Sauna Championships. It’s fair to say the vast majority of modern sauna users and enthusiasts probably don’t know much about the World Sauna Championships. That’s easily explained. Not having been held since 2010, the Championships as an annual endurance competition held in Finland attracted a lot of attention for over a decade. Then, things came to a crashing halt. Here’s a little bit about the story of the World Sauna Championships and why they’ve become an example of exactly what not to do with your sauna.

First held in 1999, the World Sauna Championships quickly gained attention for its sauna-sitting competition. Contestants from more than 20 countries worldwide would come to Finland to compete. The entire event was essentially based around extreme sauna bathing. Competitors entered at their own risk, sat in extreme conditions, and were required to sign a form saying no legal action would be taken against the organizers should anything happen to them. Although the ‘World Sauna Championships’ tag sounds very official, it was really a rogue event that was not approved and which attracted strong criticism from the Finnish Sauna Society among others.

A steam bath at the end of a long day is a great way to relieve tired, achy muscles and nerves. Pushing a button and letting the moisture surround you can take away your discomfort and in twenty minutes, give you everything you need to feel relaxed and renewed. Steam showers provide benefits relating to aches and pains but also to skin and sinuses among other things. But how does a steam shower work – the answer’s quite simple.

From a user perspective, you push a button and this activates a mechanism to summon steam. The mechanism is actually an electric valve in a steam generator which hits with somewhere around a gallon of cold water. Think of it like a really, really big tea kettle. The steam generator heats up with electricity and the water’s brought to a boil. A pipe provides a channel for the hot vapor to escape to the steam head which in turn fills the room with moisture. There are roughly two gallons of water used for every twenty minutes spent in a steam.

There’s a lot that has been made about the health benefits of sauna bathing, steam rooms, and infrared saunas but how much of the claims are actually true? Sure, a sauna makes you sweat. That said, does it do everything people say? Here we take a look at the top 9 health claims surrounding saunas and how true they are, measured by scientific study and current research.

Immune system.

There is evidence suggesting saunas strengthen the immune system, particularly among people suffering from colds and flus or who are prone to contracting these types of illnesses. When the body’s sitting in heat, more white blood cells are produced at a rapid pace to fight illness and attack viruses.

 Athletes are constantly putting wear and tear on their bodies. How they recover and heal has become just as important to how they train. Things like heat and cold have long been helpful. Infrared saunas have been trending in recent years, almost as an update on heat therapy. Athletes from several different sports have reported saunas helping them achieve a faster recovery. Before anyone gets excited, let’s look at the facts.

Compared to a traditional sauna which can heat up to 190 degrees, an infrared sauna doesn’t need to heat this high and can produce significant benefit at 125 degrees. How one of these infrared saunas work is that the room uses infrared technology to release electromagnetic radiation which is then absorbed into the body as deep as 1.5 inches under the skin. Speaking about the radiation aspect of this, there’s little to no risk of any sort of negative effects. Similar infrared sauna heating like this is used in hospitals all over the country to heat newborns.

Our endocrine system is what balances our hormone production. When it is off-balance, everything from sleep to mood, metabolism, and tissue function can be affected.

Can you improve the health of your endocrine system, when it’s acting off-balance – yes, thankfully. But before we delve into how, it’s important to understand how the endocrine system works. The system is essentially a collection of glands and organs which produce or maintain hormones. These hormones are a necessity for proper body function.

The endocrine system’s glands and organs send hormones into the bloodstream, carrying signals across the body instructing it on what to do. The endocrine system is plugged into almost every organ in the body and has a direct connection to almost every cell. An unhealthy endocrine system can be a huge problem.

Most pools, spas, and fitness centers offer steam rooms for their patrons to use. These amenities are widely used and greatly appreciated. A steam room is a great way to relax and is known to offer many health benefits. While so many make use of these steam rooms, many aren’t getting the most they could out of it. There are some certain steps that can be taken to optimize the steam room experience. Following these steps ensures the optimum use of the relaxation and health benefits that steam rooms can offer.

Shower First

Taking a shower before taking a steam is a crucial first step. This is the most fundamental aspect of steam room preparedness. This is important whether the steam room is found at a pool or a gym. In the gym it’s important to rinse off the sweat and odor that have accumulated during the pre-steam work out. In the case of a pool steam room, showers help rinse off the chlorine from the pool’s water. It’s also good to go into a steam room cool, allowing for a longer steam and reducing risk of dehydration. Making the shower a cool shower will help improve the experience.

Hot yoga may seem like a very intense workout – or at the very least, a very wet one. You’re not entirely wrong about that. Having been around for years, hot yoga packs a lot of benefits physically, mentally, and even spiritually. If you’ve ever thought about what it would be like to exercise in a steam room, hot yoga might be something for you to try.

For novices, hot yoga is essentially the practice of yoga in a heated setting. By adding heat, it creates more intense benefits but also increases difficulty. Bikram yoga is one example, with elevate heat up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit at 40% humidity. By performing yoga in a heated environment, you increase blood circulation and activate muscles in a bigger way. This aside, there are over a dozen key benefits to hot yoga in a steam room or similar heated room environment.

Faster post-workout recovery is a huge source of a lot of steam room and sauna use. In most commercial fitness facilities, hotel gyms, and spas, you’ll find steam rooms partly for this purpose. When we lift weights, lactic acid builds up in the muscles resulting in soreness. In a steam, hyperthermic conditioning decreases the amount of lactic acid build-up.

In addition to the personal experience you’ll find using heat therapy post-workout, studies also have shown steam rooms and saunas reduce exercise-induced muscle damage and delayed on-set muscle soreness. Through infrared heat in particular, one can improve the recovery of neuromuscular system after a maximized endurance performance.

There’s a lot that a steam room can accomplish for someone who is taxing their bodies with regular workouts. Muscle regrowth is a key benefit of steam rooms post-workout. This is because steam rooms increase growth hormone levels in the body, albeit temporarily, by as much as five times.

According to a recent study, a 25-minute session in a steam room can be just as beneficial as moderate exercise for the heart. Here’s how.

For the longest time, it was believed that in a steam room, blood pressure would relax and drop. Contrarily, blood pressure actually rises in a sauna or steam room. As BP levels rise so does heart rate. Why the scientific community used to think blood pressure would lower is because heat dilates the blood vessels. For this reason, people with already low blood pressure were advised against using a steam room or sauna under the belief that their blood pressure would lower, causing them to faint. Now we know the reality is far from this.

The study that discovered the effects of a steam room on blood pressure did this by exposing participants to either a 25-minute sauna session or a short workout on an exercise bike. Comparatively, blood pressure and heart rate reached the same level during the sauna session as it did on the exercise bike. These were the only two metrics monitored. What this ultimately instructs us to believe is that, if one cannot tolerate physical exercise, a sauna or steam room is just as effective.

Steam rooms have been a great way to unwind and relax for years. They have also been a long sought out method for weight loss. The conducive effects of steaming in weight loss have long been known. There have been some strange methods of applying this principle. The 20th Century was fraught with items like wearable saunas that promised to deliver steam room performance in a more convenient package yet the steam room has outlasted all of them. The allure of this relaxing experience has made it the most common approach among those looking to shed a few pounds.

There a number of different benefits that a steam room confers unto its occupants. Detoxification is one of the most prominent of these benefits. The primary function of a steam room is to work up a sweat. This sweat naturally takes many toxins out of the body on its way out. The sweat contains whatever toxins are present within the body. It’s important to drink plenty of water before and after using a steam room to replenish the water lost through sweat. This replacement water doesn’t contain those toxins, so the overall level of toxins in the body is reduced through regular steaming.

Some of the most promising areas of research currently being explored related to saunas are effects felt on the brain. An infrared sauna, going by the evidence already produced, promotes strong brain performance and the growth of new brain cells. Some scientific research is also showing infrared saunas have helped with neuron repair. If the research already conducted is anywhere close to the discoveries that have yet to be made, the brain benefits of an infrared sauna are very real.

Saunas increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor, also known as BDNF. Heat stress combined with exercise is known to increase BDNF production more than exercise alone. BDNF is very important as it plays a role in increasing the growth of new brain cells and helps one’s existing brain cells survive. BDNF also increase neuroplasticity which is helpful for learning new tasks and improving long-term memory. Low BDNF has been linked with mental health conditions such as depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. An increase in this important body composition element could potentially resolve a number of these issues.

Public steam rooms in a gym or fitness facility is one thing. Spa steam rooms are another. In an environment like a spa, there’s an expected etiquette which should be maintained. If this is your first time in a spa steam room, you can be relaxed and enjoy it while still following etiquette. For the inexperienced and newbie steam room goers, here are some basic steam room etiquette rules to follow.

Arrive early.

Arrive at least fifteen minutes prior to your steam room spa appointment. You may need to fill in some paperwork or change into your robe. In a lot of cases, sap goers choose to arrive 30 to 45 minutes early just to be safe. The sitting and waiting areas can be pretty lavish with teas, quiet social conversations, and soft music. Take your time with it.

Ask questions.

If you’re unsure of anything, don’t hesitate to ask a staff member. They should be able to direct you to your lockers, show where the changing rooms are, and more. Anything you need to feel relaxed and comfortable, they’re there for you. Don’t stress about it. Instead of wandering the facilities wondering, there should always be someone there with information to help.

A steam room is the ultimate in heat therapy, putting people in space to inspire relaxation and relieve symptoms related to a variety of medical conditions. Steam rooms exist in gyms, fitness facilities, hotels, and spas, among other settings. A lot of us have used steam rooms. Even so, common users may not be fully aware of what a steam room does to the body. As you sit in the heat which can vary between 110 and 114 degrees Fahrenheit, with a humidity level of 100 percent, here’s just a little information on how a steam room benefits you.

Stress.

The heat of a steam room will immediately begin releasing endorphins, known as ‘feel good’ hormones. Endorphins reduce the feeling of stress in the body and while this is increasing, the hormone released as a response to stress – which is cortisol – experiences an immediate drop. These reasons are why people in steam rooms walk out feeling so relaxed and rejuvenated.

Sinuses.

Another effect the moisturizing heat has on our bodies is that it allows us to breathe more deeply and easier, opening up our mucous membranes. Colds and those in need of breathing assistance can benefit from the use of steam rooms in this capacity. It treats any congestion in the sinuses and lungs.

How to take care of your skin in the summer months can be challenging with the hot, dry sun taking over. To keep you healthy and glowing, the key is to avoid your skin becoming dry and damaged. Too much sun can be an issue hard to get around however to protect your skin, there are several things you can do to moisturize and maintain vibrant skin.

Limit skin exposure

The best thing for your skin – yet most unpopular – is to limit sun exposure. A little sun is ok. Hours on-end of sun isn’t. Sun exposure leads to sun damage and dryness. If you must spend hours in front of the sun, be sure to have protection.

Visiting a steam room, a lot of us will go to relax but did you know there are dozens of health benefits you’re tapping into with every session – it’s true! While steam rooms relax the body and mind, there’s so much more to moist heat therapy than that. Here are the top 10 health benefits to steam rooms which shouldn’t be forgotten.

Post-workout.

After fitness, your muscles are in need of healing and recovery. Relax your muscles and achieve the gains you’re striving for. Steam rooms have actually been shown to help muscles grow quicker and help the body recover faster, helping you get back into the gym for another session.

After an intensive gym session, you may not see the sauna as anything but twenty minutes you don’t want to waste. Although saunas are always relaxing, it’s not just an opportunity to de-stress. Hypertrophy, otherwise known as muscle growth, and a reduction in muscle breakdown also happens any time you step into a sauna after a workout.

Among the wide array of benefits, damaged cells are repaired and future damage which would happen from oxidative stress is minimized through a sauna. Muscle degradation, muscle breakdown, and muscle growth – mechanisms inside the body controlling these are influenced in a big way by saunas.

Stepping into a sauna, your body experiences an increase in growth hormone levels. This can double growth hormones or increase them by as much as 5 times depending on temperature or duration of sauna exposure. In fact, one study showed two 1-hour sessions per day at eighty degrees Celsius for 7 days increased growth hormones by 16 times! You may not want to be jumping in for 1-hour sessions every day as eventually, there are health risks associated with this, sauna exposure can help muscle grow through this increase in growth hormones circulating.

Spas and saunas have been becoming more popular by the year for decades. These relaxing and therapeutic treatment are an option that appeal to so many from so many different backgrounds. After all, sauna use is very relaxing which is reason enough for a lot of people to get involved. Others are drawn in by the myriad of health perks that saunas have to offer. These benefits cover a variety of areas, from treating inflammation to general vitality and energy. One of the many benefits is in the sauna treatment of high blood pressure. Research shows sauna use can help contribute to lowering blood pressure.

There have been many studies that show a combination of both exercise and sauna use can reduce blood pressure. Exercise has long been one of the most effective methods for lowering blood pressure. These studies report that the addition of sauna use to any and all exercise routines achieves even greater reduction of high blood pressure. Those with high blood pressure typically take an approach involving efforts on multiple fronts. The fact that most gyms or fitness facilities offer some sort of sauna room makes this particular approach easy to integrate into any existing high blood pressure regimens.

If you own a sauna or steam room, it may not appear to be maintenance-dependent but to capitalize on a consistent performance for years to come free of health hazards, it’s almost a requirement.

Investing in an infrared sauna or steam room is a great way to improve and maintain health. To take care of a sauna is to keep it running smoothly, in the same way it does for you. Thankfully, cleaning and maintaining a sauna is relatively straightforward and easy. Steam rooms, on the other hand, can be more challenging as they’re a wet environment. If you’re using dry heat, an interior can be cleaned by simply wiping it down with a damp cloth. Regardless, a thorough cleaning should be down every two weeks. This is what is recommended.

Halotherapy is featured at spas across North America however comes from ancient healing traditions from centuries ago. Halotherapy, otherwise known as Himalayan salt therapy, is known to have a calming effect and can treat a wide range of issue.

Using microsalt, a treatment is meant to reproduce the atmosphere of a salt cave. It does this by maintaining dry, cold conditions and with a high concentration of micronized salt in the air. Alternatively, it can be practiced in wet conditions using a solution of salt and water applied in various ways.

Like an infrared sauna can, salt is known to impact respiratory issues. It’s been practiced in medieval Europe up until today and is one of the most popular spa treatments there is. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of research available on halotherapy. A lot of the evidence is anecdotal and not necessarily scientific. This isn’t inherently a bad thing though as the results for some are absolutely outstanding.